Scottish director David McVicar was born in Glasgow in 1966. He studied acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and discovered directing there. He is now acclaimed as one of the world's foremost opera directors, engagements including Giulio Cesare, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Il trovatore (Metropolitan Opera, New York), Les Troyens (La Scala, Milan), Don Giovanni (Opera Australia), La clemenza di Tito (Aix-en-Provence Festival), Don Carlo (Tokyo), Tristan und Isolde (Tokyo and Vienna), The Turn of the Screw, Medea, Alcina and Tosca (English National Opera), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Glyndebourne Festival), The Rake’s Progress, Madama Butterfly, La traviata and Idomeneo (Scottish Opera), Don Giovanni and Il re pastore (Opera North), Semele (Théâtre Champs-Elysées), The Turn of the Screw and Macbeth (Mariinsky), Agrippina (Barcelona, La Monnaie, Brussels, Théâtre Champs-Elysées and Frankfurt), Der Rosenkavalier (Scottish Opera, Opera North and ENO), Così fan tutte (Strasbourg and Scottish Opera), Billy Budd and Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Chicago), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Salzburg Festival) and Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Strasbourg).

McVicar's awards include the 2011 Grand Prix de la Musique du Syndicat de la Critique for his Strasbourg production of the Ring Cycle. In 2012 he received a knighthood and was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres.

Scottish director David McVicar made his Royal Opera House debut in 2001 directing Kirov Opera's production of Macbeth, and made his Royal Opera debut the same year directing Rigoletto. He has since returned to direct Die Zauberflöte, Faust, Le nozze di Figaro, Salome, Aida, Adriana Lecouvreur and Les Troyens for The Royal Opera, and in the 2014/15 Season directs a new production of Andrea Chénier for the Company.